Jokes at the expense of Christianity?

strobe

Hi, I was just wondering if I could ask, what kind of feelings and thoughts do you have as Christians about people 'taking the piss' at Christianity's expense?

Ranging from tamer 'a priest, an Imam, and a Rabbi walk into a bar' type things to more 'edgy mocking'.

Do you feel that anything that seeks to derive comedy at the expense of Christianity is distasteful or should be off limits? Do you think that there is a specific line that shouldn't be crossed? How would you, personally, draw that line? Do you care not a jot? Do you find humour in these kinds of things even when sought at Christianity's expense?

Are there specific areas that you feel are ok to be made fun of? Is it more about the intent behind the thing? Or how it is done? Would you ever make a joke about or poke fun at Christianity yourself?

So yeah, just in general, how do you feel about jokes whereby Christianity is the subject matter?

PyeContinental

God gave us the ability to laugh at things, the gift of a sense of humour, an understanding of irony, and the power of satire. As we know, it is sinful to waste the gifts that God gave us. He also made us in his own image, so he probably likes a laugh at the whole nonsense of it too.

Daveaherne

We live in a country where we have freedom of speech. People have the right to laugh at the idea of all faiths.

lmaopml

strobe wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if I could ask, what kind of feelings and thoughts do you have as Christians about people 'taking the piss' at Christianity's expense?

I think it really depends on the nature of it. The likes of Fr. Ted or The life of Brian etc. are fairly mild and to be honest they're funny and I end up chuckling and at various times would use some of the more memorable quotes from them..... The Simpsons regularly take the piddle out of both Christians and Atheists and Jews and you name it....some of them are very funny, but in a mild way...

Homer: I'm not normally a praying man, but if you're up there save me Superman!:D

Ranging from tamer 'a priest, an Imam, and a Rabbi walk into a bar' type things to more 'edgy mocking'.

Do you feel that anything that seeks to derive comedy at the expense of Christianity is distasteful or should be off limits?

Not off limits - but yes some of it I would find kind of distateful, so I don't bother with it. Give it attention and generally speaking you feed the fire.

Do you think that there is a specific line that shouldn't be crossed?

I think when you start drawing lines that shouldn't be crossed than people inevitably want to as far as 'humour' is concerned - some of it is pure crap tho, you know the comedians that consistently rely on haw haw material get really boring and predictable after a while. I think people get bored with them too.

How would you, personally, draw that line?

Personally, I wouldn't choose to listen to them - I like certain types of comedy. The likes of 'The Man with Two Brains' and 'The Jerk' etc. that type of humour, I find is far better....personally.

Do you care not a jot?

Yes, I do care of course, but I can't really control it. Some 'Art' or 'Humour' sometimes goes a little far for me personally and it really hurts me 'personally' because obviously hurt or defame Christ and it hurts Christians, I get a pain in my heart when I see some things. The likes of the 'P*ss Cross' and people slagging The Holy Eucharist, or stereotyping Christians and generalising etc. whether they are lay Catholic or Priests or whatever I think is unhelpful and quite hurtful depending on the delivery and intent - So I choose not to give them a hearing and instead try to concentrate on the better things every day, the things I do find interesting and funny or whatever.

Do you find humour in these kinds of things even when sought at Christianity's expense?

Yes, depending of course....

Are there specific areas that you feel are ok to be made fun of? Is it more about the intent behind the thing? Or how it is done? Would you ever make a joke about or poke fun at Christianity yourself?

So yeah, just in general, how do you feel about jokes whereby Christianity is the subject matter?

Yes, I think it's healthy to be able to laugh at yourself too - I think however, most people know if there is 'intent' as such behind a joke at the expense of a group of people and malice is there or no....When there is no malice, I'm not going to look for it iykwim - I think if there is malice than that says more about the person themselves and I can choose not to listen to somebody or to try to point out that it's hurtful or not really good taste or whatever - that may not work, than again it may work - but it's a choice I'm free to make in any situation I suppose.

Good thread Strobe.

martinedwards

To be fair, the whole Christianity thing has so much scope for ridicule!

Blokes who aren't married dressing up in long dresses and being publicly anti gay......

Oh puleeeese!

and Billy Connollys "Crucuifiction" has me in kinks

PopePalpatine

strobe wrote: »

Do you feel that anything that seeks to derive comedy at the expense of Christianity is distasteful or should be off limits? Do you think that there is a specific line that shouldn't be crossed? How would you, personally, draw that line? Do you care not a jot? Do you find humour in these kinds of things even when sought at Christianity's expense?

First things first, I'm not a Christian, but I just want to throw in my 2c.

If one were to ban the mocking of religion, just because it is an integral part in some people's lives, what's to stop them banning the mocking of people's political views? To some people, Fianna Fáil, the Liberal Democrats, the Democratic Party of the USA, Front National, Partido Popular, the Northern League of Italy etc. might mean as much to them as their faith. Just as some pious people would run for the hills at the sight of a joke making fun of the Eucharist, the Pope or various high-ranking figures in modern Christianity, these people might find it appalling that some would crack a joke about Micheál Martin, Nick Clegg, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney etc.

Also, if one were to censor perceived "mockery" of religion, where do you draw the line? Do you draw the line at Frankie Boyle making a "paedo priest" joke, at the guy in the pub who makes the "priest, imam and a rabbi" joke or at a person disputing some tenets of another person's faith, e.g. doubting the divinity of Jesus or the revelation to the Prophet Mohammed?

Some people might not like it, but mockery of religion is part of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, just as much as mockery of politics is.

FamousSeamus

I have no problem with religious jokes I find them rather funny at times, however there has been some comedians who not so much make jokes about religion but slag off those who believe in it calling them stupid or only babies would believe etc I find this a bit too far (for any religion really) but don't get too annoyed by it cause we all mock those who believe things we consider to be unbelievable.

They shouldn't be stopped from saying them cause it would infringe on free speech but it shouldn't be used to ridicule any one group either, if your gonna mock one might as well mock them all I say (its why I like south park, they mock everything!!)

Benny_Cake

PopePalpatine wrote: »

Also, if one were to censor perceived "mockery" of religion, where do you draw the line? Do you draw the line at Frankie Boyle making a "paedo priest" joke, at the guy in the pub who makes the "priest, imam and a rabbi" joke or at a person disputing some tenets of another person's faith, e.g. doubting the divinity of Jesus or the revelation to the Prophet Mohammed?

Some people might not like it, but mockery of religion is part of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, just as much as mockery of politics is.

I don't think anyone would argue for censorship or restrictions on making jokes about religion, not in this country at least (Dermot Ahern, perhaps).

Some jokes about religion are brilliant, some are in very bad taste. To me, it depends on whether the joke is funny or not, if I'm laughing, it means I haven't been offended. George Carlin and Bill Hicks were good at poking fun at believers, Jimmy Carr or Frankie Boyle aren't. I think a lot of Christians would probably be at least a little offended at jokes about Jesus, as John Cleese pointed out, there is precious little about Jesus to mock:

We found that it didn’t work because the moment you got really near the figure of Christ, it just really wasn’t funny because Christ was wise and flexible and intelligent and he didn’t have any of the things that comedy is about – envy, greed, malice, avarice, lust, stupidity.

There's no law against bad taste, of course, and there probably shouldn't be either.

This is probably as good a chance as any to post these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifgHHhw_6g8

Syllabus

strobe wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if I could ask, what kind of feelings and thoughts do you have as Christians about people 'taking the piss' at Christianity's expense?

Ranging from tamer 'a priest, an Imam, and a Rabbi walk into a bar' type things to more 'edgy mocking'.

Do you feel that anything that seeks to derive comedy at the expense of Christianity is distasteful or should be off limits? Do you think that there is a specific line that shouldn't be crossed? How would you, personally, draw that line? Do you care not a jot? Do you find humour in these kinds of things even when sought at Christianity's expense?

Are there specific areas that you feel are ok to be made fun of? Is it more about the intent behind the thing? Or how it is done? Would you ever make a joke about or poke fun at Christianity yourself?

So yeah, just in general, how do you feel about jokes whereby Christianity is the subject matter?

There are soooo many more important things in life to worry about than be offended by a joke ffs




Imo

Lapin

Any institution that inflicts misery on the lives of so many people through threats and propaganda is fair game for comic ridicule.

Nazism, Facism, all religions, communism, and all other collective groupings that command unquestioning obedience on pain of death or everlasting suffering leave themselves wide open to becoming the butt of jokes.

At least we can be thankful that Christians haven't resorted to blowing themselves and those around them to bits when they try to find something to be offended about in a cartoon image of their God.

J C

The rules I always adopt when poking fun are:-
1. Poke fun at my own beliefs first.
2. Poke fun at other people's beliefs, where they have poked fun at mine.
3. Never say something about somebodies beliefs, even in fun, that you wouldn't say about their race or sexual orientation, for example.
4. Never make jokes about somebodies person, as distinct from their beliefs.

Very often jokes are acceptable ... or not, depending on "the way you tell 'em" ... like the late Frank Carson, used to say.:D

J C

Lapin wrote: »

Any institution that inflicts misery on the lives of so many people through threats and propaganda is fair game for comic ridicule.

Nazism, Facism, all religions, communism, and all other collective groupings that command unquestioning obedience on pain of death or everlasting suffering leave themselves wide open to becoming the butt of jokes.

At least we can be thankful that Christians haven't resorted to blowing themselves and those around them to bits when they try to find something to be offended about in a cartoon image of their God.

You have conflated a lot of serious stuff in there together.
Your apparent working assumption that 'all religions' are comparable to Nazism and Communism or command unquestioning obedience under pain of death or everlating suffering is a questionable thesis, to say the least.
In the case of the Christian Faith it is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that respects the free-will of all persons ... and loves all persons.

Aspects of every person and every belief can lend itself to wit, fun and humour ... and as long as it is tasteful, respectful and not malicious it is good to laugh ... at our own beliefs first ... and the beliefs of others, if good taste and manners permit.

Daveaherne

To be fair most comedians say they don't joke about other religious because they don't know a lot about them or either do their audience. How many in the ins and outs of other religions.

Manach

Humour is used to poke fun at Christainity, both by its own adherents, people wishing wisely to deflate it a bit and unthinking followers of other views. As such is protected by the general remit of Freedom of expression: at a national and international level. However, there are recognised limits to such expressions in jurisprudence. At the limit would be the false shout of "Fire" in a cinema, so as well the use of humour as a way to maliciously hurt, wound and assault the listeners. This would and should be a very hurdle to cross which would be very clear to a group of reasonably citizens, especially in comparsion to other areas under the rights law, but it is still a limit.